Question

Ecologists typically model patterns among trophic levels by drawing pyramids. The general name for these pyramids are ecological or trophic pyramids. One more specific type of pyramid is called the pyramid of biomass. This pyramid shows all the biomass at different trophic levels at one point in time. Because this ecosystem has only two trophic levels (algae and catfish), it can be represented with a two-tiered pyramid. What ideas do you have about the structure of the biomass pyramid in this pool based on what you already know?

Answer 1

The algae's trophic level in the biomass pyramid will be higher than the catfish's. This is because the amount of food available for the consumers, in the case the catfish, will be limited by the biomass of the algae and, since about 80 to 90% of the energy gets lost between trophic level, the biomass of the catfish will be smaller that the algae.